Moses' Staff

[Christina2000]

Exodus chapter 7, verses 11 to 13.
Aaron, on behalf of Moses, throws down his staff and it becomes a snake. Pharaoh's sorcerers are able to do the same but their snakes are swallowed up by God's snake.

I interpret this to mean that through the dark arts, deceivers and sorcerers can imitate God's miracles. This explains the apparent abilities of mediums and clairvoyants However, these imitations will all always be overpowered by the greater real miracles of God , through those who obey God rather than the devil.

Has anyone got further or their own clarification on this?

 

[Waggles]

Exodus 7:20 Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile turned into blood.
21 And the fish in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.
22 But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts. So Pharaoh's heart remained hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.

This tit for tat between the magicians of Egypt and the power of God through Moses continues for the first few plagues, but eventually the enemy is not able to respond and match what
God performs through Moses.
Nor is the adversary to God able to prevent God performing all the plagues upon Egypt.

 

[Waggles]

The third plague - gnats
Exodus 8:16 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, so that it may become gnats in all the land of Egypt.’”
17 And they did so. Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and there were gnats on man and beast. All the dust of the earth became gnats in all the land of Egypt.
18 The magicians tried by their secret arts to produce gnats, but they could not. So there were gnats on man and beast.
19 Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.

Exodus 8:22 But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people dwell, so that no swarms of flies shall be there, that you may know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth.
23 Thus I will put a division between my people and your people. Tomorrow this sign shall happen.”’
As the plagues intensify in intensity God declares that he will separate his people and make a distinction between the Egyptians and the children of Israel.
This will again apply when the whole world shall go through the coming terrible tribulations that will precede the day of the Lord.
God will separate his ekklesia [the elect] from the world, including worldly Christianity.

 

[PloughBoy]

Now, do you really think the Magicians did any kind of magic.

Now, mediate on all of the counsel of GOD. And acts of “GOD”, I said on all “The Counsel of GOD.”

It should be recorded in you by your reading of The Word,stamp upon your being.

And Only A True Child of GOD, can access that Ability.

I am not going to give The answer. But I will observe your accessment,

 

[Brother Paul]

Exodus chapter 7, verses 11 to 13.
Aaron, on behalf of Moses, throws down his staff and it becomes a snake. Pharaoh's sorcerers are able to do the same but their snakes are swallowed up by God's snake.

I interpret this to mean that through the dark arts, deceivers and sorcerers can imitate God's miracles. This explains the apparent abilities of mediums and clairvoyants However, these imitations will all always be overpowered by the greater real miracles of God , through those who obey God rather than the devil.

Has anyone got further or their own clarification on this?

Just a side note from Archaeology.

There is a Staff now housed in the human history department at Birmingham Museum on England that though acquired by the museum in 1952 was discovered in a tomb in Southern Jordan in the 1800s. No one really gave it much thought. It appears to be a Shepherd's staff with Egyptian writing on it. What's odd about it is it bears the title Tutmosis and describes the bearer as being an official in Pharaoh's court and dates to around 1460 BC, exactly the time of our Moses. If we take the title Tutmosis and drop the name of the false god Tut what do we have left? Exactly!

 

[Waggles]

Exodus 2:5 Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it.
6 When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews' children.”

Hatshepsut, daughter of King Thutmose I, became queen of Egypt when she married her half-brother, Thutmose II, around the age of 12. Upon his death, she began acting as regent for her stepson, the infant Thutmose III, but later took on the full powers of a pharaoh, becoming co-ruler of Egypt around 1473 B.C.
Thutmose II is reckoned by better Bible and archaeology academics to be the loser Pharaoh at the time of Moses and the departure of the children of Israel.
Queen Hatshepsut was disowned and eradicated by her son Thutmose III, after her death - most likely as the woman who saved Moses from the Nile and therefore allowed this troublesome Hebrew to destroy Egypt.

Toward the end of the reign of Thutmose III and into the reign of his son, an attempt was made to remove Hatshepsut from certain historical and pharaonic records.
Her cartouches and images were chiselled off some stone walls, leaving very obvious Hatshepsut-shaped gaps in the artwork.
Erasure methods ranged from full destruction of any instance of her name or image to replacement, inserting Thutmose I or II where Hatshepsut once stood.
At the Deir el-Bahari temple, Hatshepsut's numerous statues were torn down and in many cases, smashed or disfigured before being buried in a pit. At Karnak, there even was an attempt to wall up her obelisks.
While it is clear that much of this rewriting of Hatshepsut's history occurred only during the close of Thutmose III's reign.

 

[Waggles]

Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt (1570 – 1293 BC)​

Rulers of the Eighteenth Dynasty:

1. Ahmose I (1570 – 1546 BC) Possibly the pharaoh mentioned in Exodus. Completed the conquest against Hyksos and restored Theban rule over all of Egypt. Reopened mines and trade routes and constructed the last pyramid built by native Egyptian rulers.
2. Amenhotep I (1551 – 1524 BC) – Likely tried to dominate surrounding nations. Began a number of temple building projects. Was deified upon death.
3. Tuthmosis I/Thutmose I (1524 – 1518 BC) – Expanded the borders of Egypt even more. Completed many great building projects. [slaves ?]
4. Tuthmosis II/Thutmose II (1528 – 1504 BC) – Possibly reigned only a short time. Another popular candidate for the Pharaoh of the Exodus. Body displayed cysts, possibly from a plague.
5. Queen Hatshepsut (1498 – 1483 BC) – re-established trade networks. Was one of the most prolific builders in Egypt. [just happened to have a population of slaves on hand]
6. Tuthmosis III/Thutmose III (1504 – 1450 BC) – Considered a military genius, created the largest empire Egypt had ever seen. Believed to have conquered 350 cities.
7. Amenhotep II (1453 – 1419 BC) – Less militant that his father, was known to be open contemptuous towards non-Egyptians.

I reckon that the Exodus took place during the time of Queen Hatshepsut and her son Thutmose III - it would make sense for God through Moses a shepherd from the desert to challenge the might and power
of Egypt and her gods. such a militarily successful Pharaoh would be more likely to harden his heart.
Also worth noting is Amenhotep II's contempt and dislike of non-Egyptians.

 

[Waggles]

Numbers 17:1 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
2 “Speak to the people of Israel, and get from them staffs, one for each fathers' house, from all their chiefs according to their fathers' houses, twelve staffs. Write each man's name on his staff,
3 and write Aaron's name on the staff of Levi. For there shall be one staff for the head of each fathers' house.
4 Then you shall deposit them in the tent of meeting before the testimony, where I meet with you.
5 And the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout. Thus I will make to cease from me the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against you.”
6 Moses spoke to the people of Israel. And all their chiefs gave him staffs, one for each chief, according to their fathers' houses, twelve staffs. And the staff of Aaron was among their staffs.
7 And Moses deposited the staffs before the LORD in the tent of the testimony.
8 On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds.
9 Then Moses brought out all the staffs from before the LORD to all the people of Israel. And they looked, and each man took his staff.
10 And the LORD said to Moses, “Put back the staff of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept as a sign for the rebels, that you may make an end of their grumblings against me, lest they die.”
11 Thus did Moses; as the LORD commanded him, so he did.
12 And the people of Israel said to Moses, “Behold, we perish, we are undone, we are all undone.
13 Everyone who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of the LORD, shall die. Are we all to perish?”